'That I did not get to say goodbye is the hardest thing'

Rodney Edwards • Published 15 Dec 2011 13:00

FERMANAGH and South Tyrone MLA Arlene Foster has paid a heartfelt tribute to her "darling daddy" John Kelly whose sudden death last week has shocked the entire community, and left a family mourning the loss of a "very special" man.

Mrs. Foster, a Stormont Minister, was told the distressing news on the phone on Friday after touching down in London to attend a tourism event. "The fact that I didn't get to say goodbye is probably the hardest thing... the fact that daddy's not going to be here any more is difficult to take in," she told The Impartial Reporter.

Mr. Kelly died suddenly in his Lisnaskea home, the home he shared with Georgina, his beloved wife of over fifty years. It's believed he took a heart attack. He was 81.

"You always think, when did I last see him? What did I say to him? The shock of it has been the hardest thing to take because the last time I saw daddy was Sunday past. I often come up on Sunday to see my parents and he was on grand form; chatting, the television was on. The last time I saw him he stood at the door and waved at us as we went off," recalled Mrs. Foster.

The former policeman - who survived a shot in the head by the IRA in 1979 - was a loving husband; a caring father to Arlene, Linda, Julie and David; and grandfather to 10 grandchildren and three great-grand children.

Mrs. Foster describes her father as a "friendly, down-to-earth man with a jolly smile who lived for his family".

On Friday morning, she left her home in Brookeborough bound for London. Arriving into Heathrow Airport after 10am she turned on her phone without realising the heart-rending news that was about to come.

"The text messages started to come through. One of them was from Brian [her husband] telling me to ring him urgently. Brian's mother hasn't been too well recently and I thought something was wrong with his mummy. When I phoned him back I would never in a million years have thought it was going to be daddy," she said.

Mrs. Foster then had an agonising wait for a flight back to Belfast, and didn't get home to Fermanagh until after 4pm that evening.

It's understood her father hadn't been well throughout the previous night, and had difficulty breathing.

"He wouldn't let mummy get the doctor, of course. Westdoc said he wanted to wait on his own GP who he respected a great deal. Once mummy rang, Doctor Leary came up and had been talking to him. Daddy asked him if his blood pressure was high. He said, 'No, Johnny, if anything it's a bit low. I think you might have to go into the hospital, is that alright?' and daddy said, 'Oh, whatever you say, Doctor Leary'. He gave him oxygen to help him breath and very shortly after that he just went out. Mummy had thought he had fainted, but I think probably, his heart had stopped. The paramedics and doctors were here, everybody was here, but nothing could be done.

"For my mother it's comforting to know that nothing further could have been done. For daddy, it's a very nice way to go because he hated doctors, nurses, hospitals and all of that sort of thing. One of his cousins was telling me that they had been at a funeral a while back and he had said to his cousin, a man who had suffered a long illness, 'I would hate that'. Whilst it's very difficult for the whole family, particularly mummy, to take in the fact that daddy's not here any more, for him, it was probably the way he would have wanted to go."

Born in Dernawilt, John Kelly went to school in Aghadrumsee. He worked in the Cotton Factory (Richard Arkwright's) at the bottom of the Lisnaskea. He married Belfast woman Georgina in 1957.

"They used to go up and down to see each other on the train to Clones. Clones was actually quite a major junction in those days, during the fifties. He met her at an International football match," smiled Mrs. Foster.

Mr. Kelly was in the B Specials and then went into the Police in Enniskillen in 1969, and was a full-time officer until his retirement in 1991. In January 1979, when Mrs. Foster was just eight and a half years old, her father was shot by the IRA. Last year, she told this newspaper about that terrifying moment.

"He was outside closing the cattle in for the night and they opened fire from behind a hedge. They shot him in the head but thankfully he survived. He crawled into the house with blood dripping from his head. We were all bundled up and taken up the stairs where he put off flares to allow the police to know he was under attack. Seven or eight minutes later the police arrived. He survived but he was advised, very strongly, to move and we did," she said.

It was a difficult time for Mr. Kelly and his family, but he "just got on with it" and set up home in Lisnaskea.

As his children got older, and had families of their own, Mr. Kelly loved nothing more than having his house full of his loved ones.

"He took a great interest in all of his children. He was a very jolly person, a very content person, always cracking a joke. He was delighted in his grandchildren; joking with them, having fun with them, telling them stories. They'll miss all that."

Mr. Kelly loved football, snooker, Deal or No Deal, and Countdown. "If you rang during Countdown you wouldn't have got much thanks for it! He loved football locally, and would have been a supporter of Lisnaskea Rovers. He was always down on a Saturday afternoon watching them when he could," said Mrs. Foster.

Several hundred mourners attended Mr. Kelly's funeral on Sunday at Holy Trinity Parish Church in Lisnaskea, including First Minister Peter Robinson and DUP party colleagues; Nigel Dodds, Jeffrey Donaldson and Sammy Wilson. Stormont Ministers Alex Attwood and David Ford, and Ulster Unionist leader and Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Tom Elliott also paid their respects at the service.

"At times of trouble and times of distress you really see the worth of people. Over the last couple of days people have been absolutely tremendous. It's difficult to put into words how much we appreciate the help."

Summing up what her beloved father meant to her, Mrs. Foster, said she was a "very proud" daughter.

"Loyalty was very much one of the things I got from my father. By that I mean in the widest sense - loyalty to your family, your friends. He taught me to be compassionate, caring. He was a very loving person. He wasn't very showy about anything. He sat at the back seat of the Church each week - he didn't want to be noticed; he just wanted to be there. He was always happy, and always had a smile on his face. We are the richer for having known him. I am very proud of him, and very proud that he was my father," she said.

Mr. Kelly's burial took place at St. Mark's Parish Churchyard, Aghadrumsee.

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This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 15 Dec 11

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